07.09.2004
Covenanting on a matter of life and death
Refusing to remain silent in the face of the scandalous death of 24,000 people every day from poverty and malnutrition, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has covenanted to work for justice in the economy and the earth.
PDF-Document: Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth
The Accra confession, which some have called historic, though it did not gain unanimous approval at the Alliance’s 24th General Council, stated that working to create a more just economy is essential to the integrity of Christian faith.
“We believe that the integrity of our faith is at stake if we remain silent or refuse to act in the face of the current system of neoliberal economic globalization,” states the confession, forged at the meeting in August at Accra, Ghana.
“The root causes of massive threats to life are above all the product of an unjust economic system defended and protected by political and military might. Economic systems are a matter of life or death,” it says.
“We live in a scandalous world that denies God’s call to life for all. The annual income of the richest one per cent is equal to that of the poorest 57 per cent, and 24,000 people die each day from poverty and malnutrition.
“Resource-driven wars claim the lives of millions, while millions more die of preventable diseases. The HIV/AIDS global pandemic afflicts life in all parts of the world, affecting the poorest where genetic drugs are not available.
“The majority of those in poverty are women and children and the number of people living in absolute poverty on less than one U.S. dollar per day continues to increase.”
The policies of unlimited growth among the most industrialized countries and the lust for profits of the multinational corporations have so badly damaged the planet that by the year 2000 one species was disappearing every hour.
“This is a global system that defends and protects the interests of the powerful. It affects and captivates us all. Further, in biblical terms such a system of wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor is seen as unfaithful to God and responsible for preventable human suffering and is called Mammon.
“Jesus told us that we cannot serve both God and Mammon.”
The confession states that God is sovereign over all creation and that the Alliance, therefore, rejects “the current world economic order imposed by global neoliberal capitalism and any other economic system, including absolute planned economies, which defy God’s covenant by excluding the poor, the vulnerable and the whole of creation from the fullness of life.
“We reject any claim of economic, political and military empire which subverts God’s sovereignty over life and acts contrary to God’s just rule.”
The adoption of the Accra confession by the 400 delegates follows a consultation process launched at the previous General Council in 1997 at Debrecen, Hungary, with follow-up events in 1999, 2003 and 2004.
The council has asked all member churches to bring the confession to their congregations and work with other churches and civic society on the issues of economic and ecological justice and it commits the Alliance to working in the same manner.
“Now we proclaim with passion that we will commit ourselves, our time and our energy to changing, renewing and restoring the economy and the earth, choosing life, so that we and our descendants might live,” the confession states.
Adoption of the Accra statement marks “a major historical turning point in our confession,” said Kim Yong-Bock of Korea, former moderator of the Alliance’s department of theology. “We are celebrating here very kairos moments, very strong moments, “ added Egbert Rooze of Belgium
But Serge Fornerod of Switzerland sounded a cautionary note, warning of “the price we will have to pay for getting that unity today. It is obvious there is a gap between us, not only between northern and southern churches, but obviously inside of our churches.”
Discussions on the floor of the council were heated, particularly over words such as “empire” and “confession.” Both those terms met with strong resistance, particularly from eastern European delegates.
But the wish for a show of unity proved stronger in the end. “Please don’t play one off against another,” urged Eberhard Hitzler, an ecumenical guest from Germany.
The faith statement of the confession says, “The current world disorder is rooted in an extremely complex and immoral economic system defended by empire.” It defines empire as “the coming together of economic, political and military domination led by one powerful nation.”
That definition did not move all to join the call to challenge such an empire. “Sorry, but I’m not your Luke Skywalker,” protested István Jakab of Romania, referring to the hero in the Star Wars films in which battle is waged against an evil empire.
The confession states that God has brought into existence an earth community based on justice and peace and that Jesus reminds the world that the poor and marginalized members of society are “preferential partners.”
Therefore the council categorically rejected “rampant consumerism and the competitive greed and selfishness of the neoliberal global market system, or any other system, which claims there is no alternative.”
Though termed a confession, it avoids formally declaring “status confessionis” (where the truth of the gospel is at stake), which some delegates had called for. It qualifies “the confession of faith” at the heart of the text as “not meaning a classical doctrinal confession, because the World Alliance of Reformed Churches cannot make such a confession.”
Delegates at Debrecen had called on the Alliance member churches to engage in a process leading to a confession on world economic justice and ecological destruction. Alliance member churches are at different stages in covenanting for “justice in the economy and the earth.”
Nine of the Alliance’s 218 churches have made a confession of faith against economic injustice in direct response to the Debrecen call. Other churches are in the process of covenanting or studying the depth of the crisis.
PDF-Document: Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth
